European Parliament resolution on Burma/Myanmar (2012)
The European Parliament,
– having regard to its previous resolutions on Burma/Myanmar, in particular that of 25 November 2010 and 20 May 2010,
– having regard to the Council Decision of 16 August 2011 (2011/504/CFSP) amending Council Decision 2010/232/CFSP regarding restrictive measures against Burma/Myanmar,
– having regard to the EU Foreign Affairs Council Conclusions on Burma/Myanmar of 23 January 2012,
– having regard to the Council Conclusions of 12 April 2011 on the temporally lifting of the suspension of high level meetings as well as on the suspension on sanction to new civil member of government (Council Decision 2011/239/CFSP),
– having regard to the Statement by the President of the European Council of 30 January 2012 on the path of reforms in Myanmar,
– having regard to the Statements by the High Representative and in particular the Statements of 13 November 2010 on the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, of 13 January 2011 and 12 October 2011 on the release of political prisoners, and of 2 April 2012 on the conduct of by-elections,
– having regard to the Statement of the ASEAN-Summit of 3 April 2012 concerning the outcome of the 1 April 2012 by-elections and the calling for sanctions to be lifted,
– having regard to the decision that Myanmar will host the South East Asia Games in 2013 and will take over the chairmanship of ASEAN in 2014,
– having regard to the speech on the state of the Union by President Thein Sein on the occasion of the first anniversary of his government on 1 March 2012, where he acknowledged that despite the efforts made there is still ‘much more to do’,
– having regard to Rule 110(2) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas during the first year in office the Government of President Thein Sein has made more progress towards democracy and peace than in the last decades;
B. whereas in a historical by-election on 1 April 2012, the opposition NLD party under its leader Aung San Suu Kyi won 43 out of the 45 seats in Parliament, despite irregularities noted by the election monitoring team;
C. whereas since the new government took office in March 2011, the majority of political prisoners have been released and a number have been elected to Parliament in the by-elections, preliminary ceasefires have come into force with all but one of the 13 armed ethnic groups, many political dissidents in exile have returned to Myanmar in promise of re-conciliation;
D. whereas the Parliament though elected under questionable procedures has started work on an ambitious legislative program, opening the path to a transparent budgetary procedure and exchange rate system, the establishment of labour unions, better land management, environmental conservation, and devolution of power;
E. whereas the government has taken numerous steps to expand civil liberties in the country, such as the freedom of information and expression notably with the lifting of the ban against some 30 000 internet sites and some 54 publications, the freedom of assembly, the establishment of a National Human Rights Commission and the planned scrapping of the censor board before the end of 2012;
F. whereas for the first time in decades, acts such as the halt of unpopular and potentially environmentally and socially disruptive power projects as the Myitsone hydropower dam and the coal power station near Dawei show a genuine interest of the government for people’s concerns, and give hope as to the seriousness of its intentions to combat poverty, promote rural development, enact a land reform and introduce a universal health insurance system;
G. whereas the government has indicated that it is pursuing a three-step process of peace building, starting from a cease fire, followed by socio-economic, cultural and political processes to an encompassing agreement – involving changes to the Constitution – on ethnic issues, including demobilisation and integration of ex-combatants, resource sharing and greater autonomy;
H. whereas the policies of discrimination against the Rohinga minority however continues unabated;
I. whereas the discrepancy between the political decisions and the limited institutional and technical capacities on the ground make that changes are slow to impact the life of the majority of Burmese citizens who continue to be faced with deep poverty, high levels of indebtedness, lack of employment and absence of social services;
1. Expresses its great relief over the very positive signs of change in Myanmar and the amount of reform proposals on the table;
2. Warmly welcomes the efforts by the government, parliament as well as the leadership of the armed forces to seek an end to decade-old internal armed conflicts, to lead Myanmar to democracy and to take decisive steps to combat the deprivation of its citizens from the accomplishments of socio-economic development;
3. Re-iterates its great respect for the decade long struggle of opposition leader and Sakharov Price Winner Aung San Suu Kyi who was deprived of her democratic right to form a government in 1989 and congratulates her for the land-slide victory of her party in the April by-elections;
4. Is looking forward to receive Aung San Suu Kyi in the European Parliament to officially reward her with the Sakharov Prize she received in 1990;
5. Supports the lifting of the visa ban by the EU Foreign Ministers in January and believes that the EU should further underline its support for the unprecedented reform effort by gradually lifting the sanctions which have no military implications or would have the effect to perpetuate military control over resources, in particular restrictions of development aid and bans on investments, export/import and loans;
6. Believes that Myanmar should also become eligible for the GSP+ if it continues on its reform path, notably eradicating the long-time systematic use of forced labour by the authorities and introducing ILO conform labour rights standards;
7. Welcomes the announcement of EUR 150 million in EU development aid for the next three years and calls on the EU and the member states to support the Burmese authorities with capacity building, aid and trade in order to rapidly ease the lack of institutional and technical capacity in Myanmar;
8. Calls on the UN to consider all possible ways to support the Burmese government in the transition process and welcomes the UNESCO support for the reform of the media laws;
9. Notes with concern that the positive transformation on the government level has been slow to trickle down to the general population and that much remains to be done;
10. Calls particularly on the government to finalize the peace negations with the Shan nation and encourages the authorities to continue towards achieving an encompassing peace plan irreversibly terminating all armed conflicts in the country;
11. Calls for the release of all political prisoners and access of the ICRC and international human rights bodies to Myanmar’s prisons;
12. Insists that the Rohingya minority cannot be left out of the newly developing openness for a multicultural Burma and calls on the authorities to grant Rohingyas citizens rights and equal treatment to other Burmese citizens;
13. Welcomes the creation of the National Human Rights Commission, regrets however that its independence is called into question because its members are selected by the government and its mandate is based on the 2008 Burmese Constitution, not on the universal human rights standards; urges to ensure that its mandate includes cases of abuse by the military; welcomes the EU technical and financial support to enhance the Commission’s capacities;
14. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the High Representative, the Commission, the Parliaments of the Member States, the Government and Parliament of Myanmar and the other ASEAN member states, as well as the UN Secretary General.
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